51. In the know

Comment #50182 by Dax on June 15, 2007 at 2:54 pm

Okay, I have the feeling this flake has not truly read TGD... if he did he would've noticed that in Dawkins' vision (and for most atheists this is true, too) this thing called atheism is de facto atheism; the probability of the existence of a deity is so small that it would be stupid to call oneself agnostic.

This is exactly what Russell was saying himself. No proof for a god and no proof against one... just tons of proof that our concept of god is false. Why believe in something you don't have proof for either way? Does Mark Vernon believe in blurfs?. Can he proof a blurf does not exist? No? He must be agnostic towards blurfs! He cannot be an ablurfist! No matter that I just pulled this word, blurf, out of the orifice between my un-intelligently designed muscular seating-pillows, and that I do not have a concept of what a blurf is, just like we humans don't have a single concept of what a god truly is.

52. In Saudi Arabia, a view from behind the veil

Comment #48499 by Dax on June 8, 2007 at 7:41 am

Me almost thinks the US bombed the wrong country.

But seriously, we only deal with the Saudi's (who's royal members are known for bisexual encounters, drinking, et cetera) is because of that black gold.

God really f***ed things up, right? He gave all the oil to the heathens who do not believe in the divinity of Jesus.
Oh, wait, God does not exist.

53. Atheism is pretentious and cowardly

Comment #48062 by Dax on June 6, 2007 at 1:00 pm

Atheism is pretentious in the sense of claiming to know more than it does.

Hmmm, what was that saying again about one kitchen utensil referring to the other kitchen utensil as not reflecting any visible colored light?

Religion is pretentious for it not only claims to know there is such a thing as a god (or gods), but also what this god is like, how it operates and how it thinks about mere mortal decisions such as what to eat, what to wear and what pleasurable acts people perform and with whom, to just name a view things.

Is a yoga class "religious"? What about a performance of a requiem? What about Hitchens' own belief in the saving power of literature? In practice, "religion" cannot really be separated from "culture".

Ah, the famous "that's not what I believe" defense went before this example of the "bending semantics" approach. The answer is "No, none of those examples are religious". My 5-days a week run feels awesome, "spiritual" (in a Harrisian sense), awe inspiring even*, but is it religion? If these things are religion than anything is religion, including things God forbid such as premarital sex, non-heterosexual or non-procreation focused sex even, or getting drunk with a couple of friends. If that is religion, too, well then we all have to get tax exempt status!
______
* just to think of how all these electrons run down my neurons, releasing neurotransmitters in my synaptic clefts, causing calcium de- and repolarization, signaling to my muscles for the myofibrils to contract and relax, burning ATP in the process, using and releasing chemicals finding its way into complex metabolic pathways. Think of the hormones or the mechanical movement, the evolution that gave rise to this specific means of motion and the physics that gave rise to the chemistry that gave rise to evolution.

54. Would the World Be Safer Without Religion?

Comment #43351 by Dax on May 21, 2007 at 6:47 am

And of course, on Sept. 11, 19 Muslims were so determined to murder helpless Christians and Jews that they were willing to die to shed the blood of other religions.

(Emphasis mine)
And see here, the narrow mindedness. The "other religions" that he speaks about are 'Christians and Jews'. Did he ever consider that the attackers tried to kill human beings of every religion or non-religion that exists in the US? That they did not just try to kill Christians and Jews, but human beings? Were there no other religious and non-religious people among the victims, or don't they count?

55. The Paradoxical Hatred of Christopher Hitchens

Comment #43023 by Dax on May 20, 2007 at 9:40 am

Nah, go to mass, live in cognitive dissonance, just leave the world alone.

56. The Paradoxical Hatred of Christopher Hitchens

Comment #43012 by Dax on May 20, 2007 at 9:21 am

David is just as insane as his brother. Maybe instead of worrying about the Hitch so much, David could perhaps focus on getting Rush in a rehab program.
Yes, I just made an ad hominum... whatever, it's exactly what this entire piece was anyway.

57. The Fastest-Growing Religion

Comment #42422 by Dax on May 18, 2007 at 7:21 am

Having met witches myself, I must say that indeed they are harmless. I don't buy into all their mumbo-jumbo since I can easily come up with more plausible scientific explanations, but at least I've never met a witch threatening me with eternal torment because I do not share his/her beliefs.
This entire modern "Wiccanism" seems to be nothing more then the "I believe because I want to belief"-mindset. Now, problems arise when they teach their children this tripe, too.

58. Television evangelist Falwell dies at 73

Comment #41269 by Dax on May 15, 2007 at 6:39 pm

I'm afraid McCain is gonna be the new president of the USA. I guy who supported Falwell even now he's dead.
Falwell was pro-segregation, claiming that God made the difference clear through skin color; he was anti-liberty, still named his, strangely enough, accredited university Liberty; hated Desmond Tutu just because Desmond was liberal; was involved in some money scandals but claimed the Clintons were criminals; et cetera; et cetera.
Falwell's God was truly a vengeful, hateful, spiteful and unforgiving God, just like him.

Why, I suddenly have the urge to listen to that Roy Zimmerman song!

59. Atheist offers to send letters post-Rapture

Comment #38816 by Dax on May 9, 2007 at 8:31 am

Oh man, I wish I cam up with this... does he want to franchise his Mail Business?

60. The New Atheists loathe religion far too much to plausibly challenge it

Comment #38172 by Dax on May 7, 2007 at 7:05 am

Funny how proof of "deconversion" is demanded but proof of existence of a fictional, infinitely improbable and infinitely cruel deity is not required.

61. God Exists. A Formula Proves it.

Comment #38080 by Dax on May 6, 2007 at 11:27 pm

At first I thought Katrina might have messed his brain up (like it did with many Orleanians) but he already started writing this cr*p in the 90s. The Tulane website lists his most recent publication dating back to 1996! What, in Anansie's name, is my university doing? Any professor who publishes so little will be booted out... except for this nutcase? Was this the guy from Tulane who signed the dissent of Darwinism document?

Oh well, it doesn't surprise me. I know a certain Tulane researcher with an MD and PhD who was amazed that I "believed in evolution" because "how can we come from monkeys?"

Tulane needs to tighten their employment and tenure policy!

62. The God disunion: there is a place for faith in science, insists Winston

Comment #34789 by Dax on April 25, 2007 at 8:45 am

If we would allow faith a place in science, then science would be no more...

Just picture the next Nature article in which a molecular biologist concludes "the specific formation of the Ubiquitine pathway and the inter-species homology of the Ubiquitine protein can only be explained by my faith in the creative power of the supreme being." Can you imagine an article like that? I can, if we would allow religion and science to merge into an abomination like this.

63. One Hell of a Religious Read

Comment #34472 by Dax on April 24, 2007 at 7:09 am

In response to comment #34357 by theorrhea on April 23, 2007 at 9:33 pm:

You are able to quote, but not to read my post fully. I wrote "Whether you are in favor of against the Iraq invasion is besides the point: the administration lied so you, as a someone who picks on religion for being a fairytale, should not blindly follow the fairytale lies of the political elite either... especially not if it was proven to be a fairytale!" (Emphasis added).
If you would do your background research, read some of his articles (try running a search on Slate.com), you would've found out that Hitchins supports the notion of WMDs in Iraq, the contacts with Al-Quaida and all those other NeoCon lies, that have been refuted by now. And that is exactly my point!

Although he's been proven wrong he still sticks with his own crackpot beliefs. Sounds familiar?

So, it is not that he is in favor of the Iraq invasion and I am not -- besides, I'm still undecided on the invasion myself, but have some problems with the hypocrisy of the current argument ("we got rid of an evil tyrant, but we let Ghadaffi alone"). It is that he is dogmatically wrong in the reasons why we should've invaded Iraq.

64. One Hell of a Religious Read

Comment #34331 by Dax on April 23, 2007 at 8:18 pm

I don't know about Hitchins. He accuses others of dishonesty while he himself sides with the NeoCons, who despise him for being an unbeliever and a former leftist (Trotskyist even!). He claims he cares about reason and rational thinking, yet has no problems in buying the Bush administration's lies to invade Iraq. Strange indeed. Whether you are in favor of against the Iraq invasion is besides the point: the administration lied so you, as a someone who picks on religion for being a fairytale, should not blindly follow the fairytale lies of the political elite either... especially not if it was proven to be a fairytale!

Hitchin does not seem to care about what is true (in a sense of "most likely / most probable") but only seems to care about stirring trouble (though I do agree with him on a lot, including Mother Teresa).

65. For Some Hispanics, Coming to America Also Means Abandoning Religion

Comment #32199 by Dax on April 16, 2007 at 6:26 am

Agree, American culture is indeed not barren, once you are willing to look past the superficial big-corp dictated culture of blockbuster movies lacking stories or actual characters, scores of singer clones, all sounding the same. True American culture is very diverse and mostly takes place on a true bluegrass level. Smaller and bigger festivals, a dense historical sense (for such a young nation), gumbo's of different styles and cuisines... if anyone doubts this, tour the USA yourself. Visit Gainesville, D.C., New Orleans, Austin and Denver, just to name a few really great places.

Throughout history the newcomers mostly attributed to this cultural diversity and that's why a "white, male, Christian, Neo-con" America is detrimental to American culture.

66. The God Debate

Comment #29258 by Dax on April 2, 2007 at 9:11 am

What is so obvious and rather ignorant, audacious and bigoted is that Rick Warren mostly got the last word and received unfair representation by the interviewer. Harris never got the chance to really address all the ignorant and spiteful arguments Warren regurgitates from his Christian propaganda lessons.

67. Merkel wants EU to be vocal about Christian roots

Comment #23560 by Dax on March 1, 2007 at 2:32 pm

This is clearly a reaction to the Islamification of European cities, but it is not a solution. First of all, 40% of the Dutch are non-religious, and many more in the rest of Europe are also non-religious. Then there are Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, and Muslims. Huge parts of Europe has lived under Islamic rule (Spain, Portugal, Austria). We've had druids, Keltoi, Celts, et cetera, et cetera. There is no such thing as a true Christian Europe. Europe became great after we shook off religion!

What is also scary is that Merkel want's to reinstate the European constitution though two countries rejected it. Next time, those countries will not ask its citizens what they think. How's that for a democracy.

Say no to the European union, please... it is an autocratic -- soon to be theocratic (either Christian or Muslim) institute.

68. 'Everyone Is Afraid to Criticize Islam': Interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Comment #21575 by Dax on February 10, 2007 at 1:05 am

@ spencerh on February 7, 2007 at 10:26 am, and others:

Ayaan moved to the US, to the AEI, because no-one let her speak in The Netherlands. She was basically kicked out of The Netherlands because of her "non PC" ideas. She's a real liberal, though also realistic; something missing among Dutch liberals (hear that D66: change that and you'll have my vote again!). It's sad that she has to work with crackpots like those at the AEI because they are the only ones listening to her. As far as I know (since she admitted to be atheist and also dated the famous -- at least in The Netherlands -- Dutch philosopher and atheist, Herman Philipse, she disagrees with the Christian Right stance of AEI also. One enemy at the time. One thread at the time.

I might disagree with some of her methods (purely because she was a politician also, besides a rebel), I admire what she did for The Netherlands. Too bad we're throwing it all away by accepting our PC, Christian Fundamentalist Socialist (the "we're not joining the administration" Labor Party: hypocrites!) government. They actually uphold the stemcell moratorium and all! That and they dislike any form of religious criticism! The Netherlands needs Ayaan back, badly! But I like to keep her in my adopted home of the USA, too.

69. Taking the fight to Islam

Comment #20686 by Dax on February 5, 2007 at 6:39 pm

As a Dutch citizen, living in the US, I would like to add my 2 cents.

Ayaan is a perfect example of how the Dutch ruin themselves by being politically correct. The entire issue with her refugee status and citizenship has been initiated to get rid of her, a female apostate with a powerful voice. It is not surprising, seeing how the Dutch pampers Muslims out of fear. We even send health care professionals and case workers to Morocco every summer to support Dutch Moroccans with psychological disorders during their vacation in their motherland. Yes, the same country who did nothing -- not even keeping lists of survivors -- for native Dutchmen living in the area devastated by hurricane Katrina.

Dutch Liberalism, like in most countries these days, shows no realism and this is the reason why outspoken liberals like Ayaan are now working at crackpot institutes such as the American Enterprise Institute. The conservative, Christian Right are the only ones willing to listen to the thread that Islam could pose.

Ayaan had a relationship with Dutch philosopher Herman Phillipse, author of "The Atheist Manifest" (Het Atheistisch Manifest), a book I hope will one day be translated into English for it is a great work on atheist morality.

We need more people like Ayaan and we do not want to loose them to right winged institutes in bed with the Bush administration.

70. Religion for a Captive Audience, Paid For by Taxes

Comment #12758 by Dax on December 13, 2006 at 4:48 pm

Now, if secular organizations were so rich as religious ones we could file suit for these special programs to be discriminatory towards the non-religious and those of minority religions. Unfortunately, we are not that rich...